Afghanistan

NOVANEWS by Zabi Rashidi   (Aug. 19 2011 6:26 AM ET) – KABUL, Afghanistan — A group of suicide attackers stormed a British compound in the Afghan capital on Friday on the anniversary of the country’s independence from Britain, triggering a five-hour firefight that killed at least 10 people. A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack on the British Council in the western part of Kabul. The dead included eight Afghan policemen, a security guard whose nationality was not immediately known and an Afghan municipal worker, according to Kabul police official Farooq Asas. Two of four people wounded in the blasts were not Afghans, he said. Britain’s Foreign Office said all insurgents involved in the attack were killed. The attack started with one su...

NOVANEWS Kamaludin Nabizada a businessman in northern Afghanistan by Zabi Rashidi Every year the harsh winter hits Afghanistan and millions who are homeless suffer from lack of warmth, clothing, shelter, and a warm meal. During the past few years, Afghanistan has seen a major increase in the number of people living in devastating conditions due to the return of refugees from neighboring countries. Those returning back to Afghanistan are hit with the harsh reality of not having a decent place to live and many suffer from starvation and the bitter winter cold. With its broadcast around the world, ARZU Television Network and the Nabizada Foundation, both organizations owned by Kamaludin Nabizada, teamed up to make a difference. ARZU Television Network, launched in Afghanistan in the summer...

NOVANEWS By Patrick Martin Global Research The shooting down of a US Chinook helicopter early Saturday morning in Afghanistan killed 38 soldiers, including 30 Americans and eight Afghans. Among the dead were 22 Navy SEALs, an elite special forces squad. Seven helicopter crew members and air combat controllers, a dog handler, seven Afghan soldiers and an Afghan interpreter died along with the SEALs. According to press reports citing unnamed military sources, the SEALs were called in for a rescue operation after a small unit of US special forces, from the Army Rangers, was pinned down by Taliban fighters. The SEALs flew in on the helicopter and drove off the Taliban attackers, killing eight of them. They had just reboarded the helicopter for the return flight when a rocket-prop...

NOVANEWS Taliban fighter who helped inflict the allies’ worst loss of life tells The Sunday Times in Kabul how he avenged the death of Bin Laden A Taliban fighter has given the first account of how his unit fired two “opportunist” rocket-propelled grenades that brought down a Chinook helicopter, killing 38 elite American and Afghan troops in the deadliest attack of Nato’s 10-year campaign. The special forces, some from the unit that killed Osama Bin Laden, had flown into a remote valley to kill a group of Taliban commanders who were sheltering in the Sayedabad district of Wardak province, according to the fighter. The dead, identified last week by a special forensic team at Dover air force base in Delaware, included 17 Navy Seals — some from Team 6, the unit that killed Bin Laden — fiv...

NOVANEWS Post-McChrystal, Night Raids Have Dramatically Increased antiwar.com New figures released by NATO reveal a dramatic increase in the number of US commando raids across Afghanistan since the ouster of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who served as commander of the war in 2009 and early 2010 before being replaced by now-CIA Chief David Petraeus. In 2009, NATO launched a total of 675 raids, while in 2010, which included Petraeus’ takeover andbacktracking on McChrystal’s efforts ot reduce civilian tolls, the entire year saw 1,780 raids. Already this year, the number is 1,879. NATO spokesmen praised the use of such raids, saying that “even if the primary target is not killed or captured on these missions 35% of those times the next closest associate or another individual directly linked t...

NOVANEWS     The Ministry of Defence is investigating claims that a soldier sliced fingers off dead Taliban fighters to keep as souvenirs. It is understood the allegations relate to a soldier from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders who was serving in Afghanistan. The claims centre on the battalion’s last tour of duty in the country. It was deployed in Helmand from September 2010 until April this year, tasked with training Afghan police. Soldiers from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland, are recruited in Scotland but based in Canterbury, in Kent. Douglas Young, executive chairman of the British Armed Forces Federation, said he was “shocked” to learn of the investigation. He added: “While the facts still need to be established...

NOVANEWS By Dr. Raja Muhammad Khan In the process of combating the terrorism, Pakistan and United Sates have worked as partner for a decade now. Surely, none of individuals perpetrated the incident of 9/11, belonged to Pakistan. They all were Arabs and so was OBL or Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, arrested and handed over to US along with over 700 other wanted terrorists by Pakistan. By compulsion under US pressure, or as inevitability, Pakistan sided with U.S in particular and international community in general, after the incident and supported the ISAF in Afghanistan by deploying its Army and Frontier Corps troops all along the Pak-Afghan border. By now, over 150,000 Pakistani regulars are deployed to combat the terrorist activities either emanating from the local militants from the...

NOVANEWS Drone killings make locals loathe occupiers, boost Taliban by Jeremy Sapienza antiwar.com Wardak province isn’t a friendly one for foreign troops: the locals loathe the foreign presence and credit the the brutal drone attacks that often kill civilians for the Taliban’s popularity. This past Saturday in the province, the Taliban shot down a helicopter and killed 30 US troops, a translator, and seven Afghan troops on their way to reinforce other troops under fire in a nearby position. Now the Taliban is claiming a new weapon against the occupying forces’ helicopters, which if true, says a security expert, “would be a game changer.” Chinooks are said to be “vital and vulnerable” — their troop-ferrying capacity is large, but they are slow, easy targets when they are taking off or...

NOVANEWS     KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghan civilians may have been caught up in a NATO air strike against suspected Taliban insurgents, a foreign military spokesman said Saturday, amid claims up to eight civilians died.  A local official said that an imam, his wife and their six children were killed by an air strike in Nad Ali district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province Friday.  The incident appears to be the latest in which Afghan civilians have been accidentally killed by NATO military operations. The issue is highly sensitive in Afghanistan after nearly ten years of war.  Explaining what happened, district governor Shadi Khan said: “A group of Taliban attacked a foot patrol of NATO forces.  ”Subsequently, an air strike targeted the house of an imam of a mosq...

NOVANEWS Osama Killing gets more shroud s Some Possibly Killed in Abbottabad Helicopter Crash Months Before  By Gordon Duff, Senior Editor  Today 31 NATO troops, 22 of them Navy Seals from the Osama bin Laden operation died in what is reported as a helicopter crash in Afghanistan.  The chances of this story being true is almost nil.  The chances of this being a staged coverup is over 80%.  We believe these people were murdered to silence them.  This is why. We have solid information on two areas: Osama bin Laden died in 2001 as an active CIA employee and his body was recovered in Afghanistan and taken to “the sand box.”  We were told it was frozen.  We have so much verification from this, CIA, ISI, US military and top officials.  I have a direct confirmation from Bin Laden’s CI...